You may say "yeah, but you can't judge all Christians by the actions of a few", but in the fundamentalist Christian mindset, there is little to prevent actions like this from being taken by a few confused individuals.

We have gotten to a point where some people believe it's more important to follow strict, conservative interpretations of religious thinking rather than to follow the most basic lessons taught in all religions: to be a good person, to do good things, to not be a bad person and to not do bad things.

These lessons should preempt all other aspects of religion, and should be taught as the golden law of ascension.

All I know is that these men, LEADERS OF THE CHURCH, will not be welcomed into any heaven I choose to believe in.

Here's the text of the article:

[quote]
Texas boy allegedly beaten in Bible study

July 10, 2002 Posted: 5:24 PM EDT (2124 GMT)

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Austin police arrested a church pastor and his twin brother Tuesday, alleging they used a tree branch to beat unconscious an 11-year-old who misbehaved in Bible class.

Joshua Thompson, 22, a pastor at Capitol City Baptist Church, and his brother Caleb turned themselves in Tuesday and were released on $25,000 bond, KEYE-TV reported. They were charged with injury to a child, a felony punishable by up to life in prison, the station reported.

The alleged beating took place July 3, according to reports. The brothers thought the boy did not take his Bible verses seriously enough during a church-sponsored summer camp for Spanish-speaking students, officials said.
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The alleged abuse took place at a private home, said Bobby Taylor, the child's attorney. "They ... cut a branch off a tree, made my client lay on the bed, and beat him," Taylor said.

Court records obtained by Reuters alleged that the beating lasted for 90 minutes, broke blood vessels and caused the boy's kidneys to fail. The brothers allowed the child to take a break in the restroom during the reported beating, documents said.

Joshua Thompson beat the child while Caleb Thompson held him down, Reuters reported, citing court records. They reportedly turned up a radio to drown out the child's cries, the news service reported.

Afterward, the two took the boy back to his home, where Joshua Thompson told the parents the child needed further discipline, the AP reported.

After the Thompsons left, the boy's parents discovered bruises and cuts covering his entire back, as well as bruises on his neck, buttocks and legs, AP reported. They called police and took their son to a hospital, where he remained in fair condition Tuesday, the news service said.

Capitol City Baptist does not support corporal punishment, said Jerald Finney, Joshua Thompson's lawyer.
<hr></blockquote>

[quote]Originally posted by tonton:
<strong>We have gotten to a point where some people believe it's more important to follow strict, conservative interpretations of religious thinking rather than to follow the most basic lessons taught in all religions: to be a good person, to do good things, to not be a bad person and to not do bad things... </strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm not sure if "We have gotten to a point...". It seems in the past, at least in this part of the world, there was more fundamentalist than there are right now. If were getting anywhere it that we are getting away from it, on average. Now in the middle east I'm not sure that's true. It seems people there are going crazy with it.

When people talk of religion as being the cause of millions of deaths and personal injustices over the centuries, they're actually off the mark a little. Much more often than not it has been a fundamentalist approach to the religion in question that has given rise to intollerance and subsequently war, inquisitions and the like.

I think we should promote a new kind of "ism" - "moderatism". I like to think that the religions of the world might be much more useful tools if people included them in the notion of "all good things in moderation." Taken to extremes, almost any idea, ethic or concept can be more harmful than helpful....

The standard argument I've seen is that "it's not fundamentalism, it's extremism (or radicalism) that's the problem."

They say that fundamentalism is just "getting back to basics."

But I wonder. Doesn't fundamentalism also involve a literal reading of the religious text, and the practitioners of fundamentalism therefore believe they have a direct pipeline to God? And isn't that "I'm right because I know God's absolute truth" really the danger?

By the way, when I heard about this yesterday, I thought of that Saudi story a few weeks back about the school where they wouldn't let girls out of the burning building, and all the hand-wringing about how backward Saudi culture is...

Doesn't fundamentalism also involve a literal reading of the religious text, and the practitioners of fundamentalism therefore believe they have a direct pipeline to God? And isn't that "I'm right because I know God's absolute truth" really the danger?</strong><hr></blockquote>

When people talk of religion as being the cause of millions of deaths and personal injustices over the centuries, they're actually off the mark a little. Much more often than not it has been a fundamentalist approach to the religion in question that has given rise to intollerance and subsequently war, inquisitions and the like.

I think we should promote a new kind of "ism" - "moderatism". I like to think that the religions of the world might be much more useful tools if people included them in the notion of "all good things in moderation." Taken to extremes, almost any idea, ethic or concept can be more harmful than helpful....</strong><hr></blockquote>

Without religion there is no fundamentalism.

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” -Sagan